1630/A Whovian Education

A Whovian Education
Date of Scene:	04 June 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Having started to manifest a new interest, Coco turns to Amy for questions the redhead is more than willing to answer.
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Faust, Coco Kiumi

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Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy brings Coco back to her dorm room to hang out as they nerd out.

    It's... a dorm room! There are stuffed animals on the beds. A bunch on the top bunk. The lower bunk has a bear, a... mountain lion? and a plushie of Trager-chan, complete with Blauer Grief and Lyra. One desk has some pink on it, and a nice mirror presumably for checking one's makeup and hair in. The other... There are two 22.5-inch monitors and a black computer tower, the vents in the case letting out glowing red light from inside. The matching black keyboard glows a rainbow from under its keys. 5.1 surround speakers are positioned around, with the rear ones perched awkwardly on the windowsil and taped to one of the beds. This is a gamer's battlestation!

    The shelf over the desk is a collection of tabletop RPG books from the last several years. In front of the desk is an office chair, with one of those little plastic mats under it so the wheels and carpet won't have to struggle with eachother for dominance.

    Amy tosses her bag on her bed and takes a seat in her chair, plugging her phone in to charge. "Welcome to my humble abode! ...Huh, did I ever actually bring you here before? I forget."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
This was actually the first time Coco had ever visited Amy's dorm room. "First time here, it looks nice!", she tells the redhead before she is treated to the absolute adorableness that is plushie-Trager with Lyra and Blauer Greif included!

Though admittedly, one is only spoiled for choice here when it comes to which plushie to look at. Even so, Coco's gaze falls on the above mentioned plushie first. "That Hannah is really pretty", she tells Amy, nodding towards the plushie. "Where did you find a custom seller?"

Regardless of that matter, they have come here to address other subjects. "So, no streaming services? Nurse Meiou was using those."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy smiles. She will pretend that 'it looks nice' is about the computer setup and feel proud about it! It's not like she designed the layout of the room itself, after all!

    Amy follows Coco's gaze. "Oh! Uh, Pluto made them. They were Christmas presents for me an' Hannah."

    She looks to the computer. "I mean... Well, honestly? I have profiles on my Dad's accounts, so as long as that's still working sometimes it's convenient. Usually no good for anime I wanna check out, though." Personally I think he's overpaying. Now, back when it was just Webflix and Yuhu, things were reasonable, but now?" She shakes her head. "I can't reccomend paying for one of these services, they just keep jacking up the price, content is divided between more and more of them every year, and we have no income and have to spend a lot of time on school and fighting evil anyway!"

    "If you can use Pluto's account, though... like, she's paying for it anyway. you may as well. For Doctor Who and Star Trek? I dunno who has the rights for Doctor Who now, and of course Star Trek's producers want everyone to use their streaming service and ugh. You'd have to search for what they're on. Again, if Setsuna-san's already got them, that's convenient, I guess."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Yes, would she know what kind of incredibly deliberate and delicate choice Amy's computer is, Coco would find it quite nice as well, but if nothing else, she can definitely compliment the cozy atmosphere Amy's dorm room has. "Pluto did? That's so nice of her, does that mean Hannah has one of you as well?" Probably, but anyway...

She slowly caresses the back of her neck when Amy lists what's the problem with streaming, between the increasingly unfair practices that one thinks ought to be unfair, and the paid services Amy actually has. She understands what the problem with the corporations are, but to be included in those with no income... Well, it definitely makes her uncomfortable and she is not sure what Hannah's situation is either, given the problem her uncle gives out just with his mere existence.

"Well, if you want me to help, you know, just ask! But I totally get how it's inconvenient, almost forcing you to get all of them. Anyway, Doctor Who is incredibly huge, and I am tempted to add multifaceted after the elaborate and precise explanation you gave me at the Shed. For a complete beginner, would you start all the way from its roots? Or should I explore the more modern continuations first?"

"I definitely got the vibe there would be almost more enjoyment in the more recent ones then proceed backwards to see how things were before they came up with the modern style."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Is there also an Amy plushie? Amy nods, and also beams.

    Where to start with Doctor Who? "Uhh. Hmm. Damn. You know, when I was younger, a lot of other geeks were into superhero comic books, but I never knew where to start? It seemed impenetrable to get into, there had just been so many, for decades... And I guess now I kinda get it?"

    She crosses her arms and thinks. "...I guess I'd still say, just start with the 2005 series. The first year isn't quite as good as what follows, but it also sets up a lot of stuff and introduces a lot of characters that will matter later."

    Amy shrugs. "For the record, you honestly can't start from the very beginning and watch everything. A lot of the tapes were lost. People back then didn't think they were making something that would become a lasting pop-cultural phenomenon. But I've only seen a handful of the older stories, myself, and read a book or two. It's..."

    She shrugs. "Just start with the 2005 series."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Impenetrable? Coco isn't sure she would call it that, she would just need a guiding nudge, but at the same time, she does actually need that nudge, so yeah. Amy likely didn't have it back then from what the redhead is saying. "It does seem like there is a huge amount from the outside peering in", she agrees with Amy. "So thanks for the help."

"The 2005 series, got it", the mermaid nods. That was sort of what Setsuna had made her do with Star Trek, even as skipping so much... Well, she is a bit new to following serialised works in general, but nevermind that now.

"Seems like a shame they didn't just conserve them as a standard, regardless of their future success. That is what's done with just about... everything else, no?" But she doesn't know if Amy would actually have an answer to that. It doesn't sound like there'd be one.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Oh, you're welcome!"

    Why didn't they preserve them? Amy blinks at Coco. "...Right. Um. No? Our society is actively hostile to archival efforts. Books, TV shows, videogames, everything's copyrighted. I just told you how you can't get DRM-free copies of anything legally, right? Only stream stuff that'll get taken away when the license changes hands or something. And the videogame companies sure don't want anyone making sure there's always a way to play their games after their consoles get too old to be readily available anymore. There's no money in it for the license-holders to preserve anything, and it's illegal for anyone else to do it. That's um. How the grown-up human world works, sorry. It's all about money. I'm uh, sorry."

    "...Are mermaids better? Can we come live with you after the world's saved and stuff? Or, wait, hopefully I'm gonna be able to go back to Tharkad with Hannah. I'm sure they're more enlightened than Humans and if not, at least she'll be in a position to do something about it."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Listening intently to Amy's explanation Coco realises how much of a gulf there is between her perception of things and their actual state. She would have figured that the things she saw weren't actually the exception. "Could have fooled me, with all the various systems of data banks and everything that they were either preserving or restoring, it was just... better." She shrugs. Wouldn't have figured them to be the exception. That's so... odd, to say the least."

She reserves Amy a smile. "You and Hannah both are always welcome visiting anytime you do want to come. I would be overjoyed to have you there as my guest. Even one of these days, you know? Could even show you around."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Oh yeah, we have the technology," Amy agrees, "And free stuff does get archived and there are illegal archives, but yeah. It's uh. One facet of..."

    She looks away and rubs her neck. "...I uh. At first I was like, I should warn all these kids about the adult world. But then everyone had crazy magical problems and enough to worry about. And now I'm uh. I'm trying not to think about it as much, so I can... focus more on this life. Get this... this chance to be a teenager properly, that I didn't get the first time. I'm not... good at it, I know, but it's... something."

    She looks down, then over at Coco again. "When stuff's all over? If you can get out of here, a few years from now? Go. You shouldn't have to suffer with--oh right you're a princess you're rich you'll be fine." Amy shrugs. "Help who you can. Maybe you'll become such a popular singer you move the hearts of millions, I dunno. But you don't have to try and help us. Live your life, whatever you think it should be."

    "If Hannah and I can't leave earth-- Oh wait, with the veil in place wouldn't we go crazy if you brought us to the undersea kingdom?" Amy taps her chin thoughtfully, then shakes her head. "Nope! Not worrying about this right now! I am getting a few years of fun, or at least, between all the monster-fighting and school. But uh yeah, seeing a magical merfolk kingdom would absolutely be cool one of these days!"

    "And uh, um, what were we talking about... any other geeky stuff you wanna know about?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"I don't fault you for that. I can at least guess at how crushing the expectations must have been, and just for that, you deserve to fool around, study, play and have fun with any of us since you couldn't the first time. I am really glad to have known you, you know?" Coco mentions, bringing her into a hug if she allows it. "Anyone you have realised right now, so can be told the same."

The mermaid looks at Amy completely serious in what she is about to say. "But Amy, we are friends, I am never going to cast you aside while reaping the benefits. I think it will be awesome, your visit."

"As for other geeky things? I have got my hands full as is with exploring Star Trek and Doctor Who on the matter of series, so you can suggest more, but it will be once I am done. You have mentioned the rpg club though. What are you doing right now? When do you meet? How does it work really? How would I add myself?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is already going for a hug when Coco does. She smiles and nods and hugs tighter at Coco's words. "Thank you. I..." don't deserve it. Not when others need help so much more... She squeezes tighter as if she can crush that thought, or maybe cling to Coco in spite of it.

    On to geeky things. Amy relaxes her grip. "D&D at the moment. 5E. Err uh. 'Dungeons and Dragons. The current edition.' Uh, every week." On Somedays! "Like I said, Rashmi and Molly are thinking of maybe starting up a Savage RIFTS game, which'd be great."

    She lets go and sits back in her chair. "Basically, one person is the Game Master. They're adjudicating everything and describing how antagonists and side characters act, and the world, and everyone else is players, each with a character, some adventurer with powers and skills of some sort, usually, and they describe what their characters do or try to do. Both of these games are part improv theater, part small-scale tactical wargame, with the dice providing randomness so that everyone involved gets to be surprised to see just how things go sometimes. Others lean more away from the wargame part."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"It's a good thing then I have many hugs to give with no sign I am about to exhaust them anytime soon", and likewise clings tighter in return, wanting to give her friend all the care she would need. "Besides, we have many things waiting up on us to enjoy, so let's look forward to them, ok? And one of those is the club. I will definitely give it a try next time it's in session."

She undoes the hug at the pace Amy, not any faster than that. "Thank you for explaining all of that, Amy."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy laughs at the comment about hugs.

    Just a year ago... I hadn't gotten a hug in years, and never like this...

    She smiles. "You're more than welcome. I'm happy to help and exposit."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Ok, I will check up on things, then call you up for another time. If you want anything, feel free to do the same", Coco waves at the redhead, heading towards the door.